Patton Oswalt through no fault of his own somehow created the persona of being a geek. On the phone he just cuts right through all the bullshit and says whatever the fuck is on his mind. After 15 years as a standup comedian he doesn't give a shit about what anyone thinks of him or what he does and he is one the best at what he does. As a standup he rises above all the comedians about there whether he's hashing on the state of the union or making fun of TiVo
In the age where a comedian is considered at the height of his career when he has a sitcom Patton waves it all off. He's more than willing to keep perfecting his comedy while doing his supporting role on the King of Queens. While many of the people who frequent SuicideGirls might not consider a family sitcom on CBS exactly cutting edge, Patton keeps himself more than sharp appearing at comedy clubs with comedians like David Cross, Greg Proops and Sarah Silverman.
After appearing in films like Man on the Moon and Magnolia, Patton has written his own film script called Puberty and it sounds hysterical. It's the story of a guy, in his 30's, who has yet to reach puberty has all of that change when he is in one of the biggest business deals of his life and puberty arrives along with all it's fun side effects. But of course who knows when this movie might come out.
In case you can't wait for the Patton penned movie to hit theatres DC Comics released his first comic book, JLA: Welcome to the Working Week. Since Patton is a long time comic and horror movie fan I could tell he was really excited about doing this project.
But if you want to be a bigger part of Patton's career rather than just reading about it go buy tickets to the taping of his first comedy CD at the 40 Watt in Athens Georgia this September 27th.
Check out Patton's site.
Daniel Robert Epstein: I bet you didn't realize naked Goth girls liked you a lot.
Patton Oswalt: I didn't know that. Do they cite me as an influence?
DRE: [laughs] Believe it or not they do cite a few movies you've been in as their favorites.
PO: Really?
DRE: Yeah like Magnolia and Zoolander.
PO: Oh my god.
DRE: Not Down Periscope though.
PO: They cut all the gothiness out of that movie. All the black gabardine was taken out.
DRE: What was it like working on those two movies?
PO: They were really fun. I didn't audition for either one. I just knew the directors and they called me up. With Magnolia I got to go to Reno and gamble so that was really fun. I only saw the pages of the script I was in so I didn't really have an idea of what the movie was about until I saw it. I do remember hanging out in that tree in the valley wearing a wetsuit and I was asking PTA "What the fuck am I doing?" He just said "I'll just say that you're the first frog that falls out of the sky." I was like ok and I understood that once I saw the movie.
DRE: Is that how you met Aimee Mann?
PO: I had known Aimee before then and performed with her. I toured with her as well in 2000 we went over to Europe.
DRE: I see you're recording your first comedy album.
PO: Yeah on the 27th I'm going to be at the 40 Watt in Athens and record it.
DRE: What made you pick Athens?
PO: I did a show there back in April and it was a fun club. I love Los Angeles but it's kind of easy to record your album there so if I did at the Largo the people there are already on your wavelength. I do hope to get a lot of fans at the 40 Watt but I like the sensation of winning people over.
DRE: Is it all new material?
PO: It's going to be a lot of material I wasn't able to do on TV. So that will be fun and a lot of new stuff I'll be working on. At my last show people were yelling out requests. So I'll probably do all the stuff I want to do, then take requests and add those on as bonus tracks. There are certain bits people like to hear so I'll do them again.
DRE: I can no longer do a Nick Nolte imitation. Now I imitate you imitating Nick Nolte.
PO: [laughs] Thanks.
DRE: I used to do a pretty good one too.
PO: Wow I trumped your impression. That feels good.
DRE: How long does it take to develop two new hours of standup?
PO: About a year. I don't ever sit and write stuff down. I just do a lot of shows and new stuff will come to me while I am onstage. So I just note that down but I don't sit down and write for an hour. It comes in little bits and pieces. As new things come up old stuff falls away. I don't like keeping bits because I'm kind of obsessive compulsive so once I get bit down pat then I get bored doing it so it's no fun doing it anymore.
DRE: Was there ever a time when you were less sure as yourself as a comedian?
PO: I'm still unsure of myself now. I go through phases of a good groove then I fall out of it. But I think you have to be unsure of yourself. You have to experience some real doubt or you're not doing anything all that cool or meaningful.
DRE: Is there a certain kind of bit that you know doesn't work for you?
PO: Yeah I guess there are some bits I won't do that even though they're funny. But it might be something I don't care about. So that would be the only thing that would prevent me from doing a bit,"I don't give a fuck about that." I just want to do stuff I really care about or do stuff that could really go wrong that the audience wouldn't like. That's the only thing fun about comedy, getting to say shit you wouldn't say anywhere else.
DRE: Is your comedy very personal?
PO: Yes and no. I don't really talk about my life. I don't care about being a personality but how I feel about my life and the things in it is so evident by what I talk about. At least I try to make it so. I try to talk about shit I care about. I think there is way for someone to get what my personality is without me having to say "here is my personality."
DRE: Bob Fingerman [creator of the independent comic book Minimum Wage] doesn't live too far from me. He showed me the comic book you wrote that he is drawing. How did all that comic book stuff come to you?
PO: I've read comics for years. Then you start running into writers, artists and then you start to get a name. Then you mention to those people that you could do something. There wasn't a specific path to get me into writing comics. When you're nice to enough people eventually it just happens. It's the same with the movies I've been in.
DRE: Is it awesome to see the comics come out?
PO: It's a lot of fucking work but oh boy it's so great to see them on the stands.
DRE: Why is it so much work? You've written a few screenplays.
PO: A screenplay you just write, he walks across the floor and picks up a glass. With comics you have to pick specific moments in time to evoke that. That's a lot more thinking about. It makes you director, cinematographer, writer, producer and a lot of cases actor all at the same time.
DRE: What comics do you read now?
PO: I don't read them as much because I don't read as much superheroes anymore. Superheroes are so much about despair. Wanting someone to come out of the sky and fix things for me. That's what a lot of religion is about too. I want a super powered being to save me. I want a thing outside of myself to fix this thing.
Also with what's been going on lately with the mood of the current administration and the way the country is going superhero comics got really silly sad and desperate to me. I got a lot of that out in the comic I just did [JLA: Welcome to the Working Week]. I read Alias which kind of involves superpowered beings and Stray Bullets.
DRE: I know you're a Matt Wagner fan.
PO: He's fucking fantastic. It's so rare when you get a writer and an artist that is as talented as him. That god and devil stuff he is doing with Grendel right now is so fucking brilliant. I just hope it's not prophetic that would truly suck.
But I would love to do an Annie Wilkes with him. Just strap him to a bed and make him draw all my favorite characters.
DRE: Have you seen any good horror movies this year?
PO: 28 Days Later was pretty fantastic. I haven't seen Cabin Fever yet.
DRE: Have you seen House of 1000 Corpses?
PO: No but Texas Chainsaw Massacre is such a fantastic movie that when you try to be like that, it never works. Texas was such a happy accident and if you watch the rest of Tobe Hooper's films you realize it really was an accident. I've seen nearly every grindhouse exploitation horror movie. But it gets to the point where you realize that a lot of those movies were striving to go forward even though many failed. So movies now that want to do this retro looking back thing and that seems pointless to me. Fucking go forward and try to something new. I hate horror movies that have characters with names like Romero or Carpenter. Very fucking clever, be the source that other people reference.
DRE: Has the sitcom gig changed your life?
PO: No.
DRE: Maybe it's made you noticeable?
PO: Sometimes. I think there are some people who get off on being recognized in public and get addicted to that thrill. Then there are other people like me who have that thrill in the beginning but then we realize it's empty. There are other things I want to do with my life and I've been pursuing them. I don't want it all to be about that I'm on a sitcom. Some people just get on a sitcom then make it their whole fucking life. It's kind of sad and I don't want to be in that group.
DRE: But you get to hang with Lou Ferrigno!
PO: He's a nice guy. Lou is very obsessed with horror movies.
DRE: What would happen if someone offered you a sitcom?
PO: It would depend on if it was something I liked. I love The King of Queens because it's so well written as far as sitcoms. But I don't watch many sitcoms either. People talk about Seinfeld episodes and I'm like "ok". I think it was because when I was coming up as a standup most of my nights were spent out. I wasn't watching TV.
DRE: I think it was Bill Maher who said "Why is every sitcom about an idiot with a hot wife."
PO: Bill Maher hangs out with hot hookers and strippers all the time so what does he know. But you know what, who gives a fuck. I'm not putting you down but I just can't believe that there are people out there who make money watching television. It's sad enough about people who write about watching movies and listening to music but TV, how do you justify it?
DRE: Did you really climb up on the top of an arch to do comedy?
PO: Yeah that was on Comedy Central. I climbed up on the set. It was fun.
DRE: That's the dangerous comedy everyone is talking about.
I read about this screenplay of yours called Puberty, how's that's going?
PO: I just turned in the latest draft. Screenplays take forever to get made.
DRE: How did you come up with that?
PO: I read a news story about a guy who went through puberty late and I thought that would make a good screenplay.
DRE: What comedians would you pay to see?
PO: Dave Attell, Patrice O'Neal, Brian Regan, Louis CK, Zach Galifianakis, Brian Posehn and Todd Glass.
DRE: Are you glad Run Ronnie Run is finally coming out?
PO: I'm happy for those guys but I'm not totally psyched because it should have come out in the theatre. It shouldn't go straight to DVD. It's hard to believe My Boss' Daughter and Legally Blonde 2 are in the theatres but Run Ronnie Run isn't. There's no way to defend those movies being in theatre. Not even from an aesthetic point of view to make money you put that out.
DRE: The sad thing is that David Zucker [co-creator of Airplane and The Naked Gun] directed My Boss' Daughter.
PO: Those guys are douche bags. Good I'm glad he directed it. I hate him. They made a couple of great films and now they are assholes.
DRE: Any good stuff happen on the road lately?
PO: I got booed off stage in Pittsburgh last February. A lot of people were into Bush, the old USA and they didn't like what I had to say. First they started chanting Bush Rocks over and over again. One guy yelled out "Take your faggot ass back to Hollywood." Then I stole a joke from a friend of mine, Blaine Capatch, because I figured they already hated me. I said "Folks it's not like I'm comparing him to Hitler." Then they calmed down a bit so I followed it up with "Hitler was elected." They started screaming FUCK YOU. The club owner had to walk me out while people were throwing shit at me.
DRE: Do comedians hang out together?
PO: Sometimes. In small groups.
DRE: So its not smoking cigars and making each other laugh.
PO: No it's just like any other profession. We just hang out and talk shop.
DRE: Do comedians have big orgies with groupies?
PO: [laughs] No we don't have groupies. If I did have a groupie I certainly wouldn't fuck her because she's a fucking loser because she's a comedian groupie.
DRE: Are there never women who want to sleep with you after a show?
PO: There are but I don't want to sleep with them. The fact that you want to fuck a comedian is pretty sad. God knows what's been inside you.
DRE: Do you have any archenemies?
PO: I think I have an archenemy but he or she has not made themselves evident yet. I'm pretty sure I have one of those really good archenemies like one of those behind the scenes Sidney Korshak motherfuckers.
DRE: What's your favorite pornography?
PO: Anything that involves big breasts but no fake boobs. The worst thing to happen to us since AIDS is fake boobs. As a matter of fact fake boobs are worse then AIDS because it turns men gay and then they go have gay sex and spread AIDS. That's how bad fake boobs are.
DRE: We basically have three kinds of women on the site. Which is your favorite out of the punk, emo and Goth girls?
PO: I like the way the emo girls look but I like the music the punk girls listen to. Emo girls are something else. Little Enid Coleslaw looking ones.
DRE: What did you study in college?
PO: I studied English.
DRE: How's that going for you?
PO: Fucking great. I'm trying to get a job at the English company but it hasn't been working out. English was so fucking lame.
DRE: When people recognize you do they ask you to tell them a joke?
PO: Sometimes. My standard response is that I'm off duty.
DRE: What if they gave you a thousand bucks?
PO: Fuck yeah. That would be a great life. Could you imagine walking around and every few minutes you make another grand just by telling a joke.
DRE: Besides the comedy album what's coming up?
PO: I'm shooting a part in Blade 3 in November. I have another short comic coming out from Wildstorm. David Cross and I will be up at Cobb's [Comedy Club] in San Francisco on January 2nd through the 4th. That's going to be fucking amazing.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
In the age where a comedian is considered at the height of his career when he has a sitcom Patton waves it all off. He's more than willing to keep perfecting his comedy while doing his supporting role on the King of Queens. While many of the people who frequent SuicideGirls might not consider a family sitcom on CBS exactly cutting edge, Patton keeps himself more than sharp appearing at comedy clubs with comedians like David Cross, Greg Proops and Sarah Silverman.
After appearing in films like Man on the Moon and Magnolia, Patton has written his own film script called Puberty and it sounds hysterical. It's the story of a guy, in his 30's, who has yet to reach puberty has all of that change when he is in one of the biggest business deals of his life and puberty arrives along with all it's fun side effects. But of course who knows when this movie might come out.
In case you can't wait for the Patton penned movie to hit theatres DC Comics released his first comic book, JLA: Welcome to the Working Week. Since Patton is a long time comic and horror movie fan I could tell he was really excited about doing this project.
But if you want to be a bigger part of Patton's career rather than just reading about it go buy tickets to the taping of his first comedy CD at the 40 Watt in Athens Georgia this September 27th.
Check out Patton's site.
Daniel Robert Epstein: I bet you didn't realize naked Goth girls liked you a lot.
Patton Oswalt: I didn't know that. Do they cite me as an influence?
DRE: [laughs] Believe it or not they do cite a few movies you've been in as their favorites.
PO: Really?
DRE: Yeah like Magnolia and Zoolander.
PO: Oh my god.
DRE: Not Down Periscope though.
PO: They cut all the gothiness out of that movie. All the black gabardine was taken out.
DRE: What was it like working on those two movies?
PO: They were really fun. I didn't audition for either one. I just knew the directors and they called me up. With Magnolia I got to go to Reno and gamble so that was really fun. I only saw the pages of the script I was in so I didn't really have an idea of what the movie was about until I saw it. I do remember hanging out in that tree in the valley wearing a wetsuit and I was asking PTA "What the fuck am I doing?" He just said "I'll just say that you're the first frog that falls out of the sky." I was like ok and I understood that once I saw the movie.
DRE: Is that how you met Aimee Mann?
PO: I had known Aimee before then and performed with her. I toured with her as well in 2000 we went over to Europe.
DRE: I see you're recording your first comedy album.
PO: Yeah on the 27th I'm going to be at the 40 Watt in Athens and record it.
DRE: What made you pick Athens?
PO: I did a show there back in April and it was a fun club. I love Los Angeles but it's kind of easy to record your album there so if I did at the Largo the people there are already on your wavelength. I do hope to get a lot of fans at the 40 Watt but I like the sensation of winning people over.
DRE: Is it all new material?
PO: It's going to be a lot of material I wasn't able to do on TV. So that will be fun and a lot of new stuff I'll be working on. At my last show people were yelling out requests. So I'll probably do all the stuff I want to do, then take requests and add those on as bonus tracks. There are certain bits people like to hear so I'll do them again.
DRE: I can no longer do a Nick Nolte imitation. Now I imitate you imitating Nick Nolte.
PO: [laughs] Thanks.
DRE: I used to do a pretty good one too.
PO: Wow I trumped your impression. That feels good.
DRE: How long does it take to develop two new hours of standup?
PO: About a year. I don't ever sit and write stuff down. I just do a lot of shows and new stuff will come to me while I am onstage. So I just note that down but I don't sit down and write for an hour. It comes in little bits and pieces. As new things come up old stuff falls away. I don't like keeping bits because I'm kind of obsessive compulsive so once I get bit down pat then I get bored doing it so it's no fun doing it anymore.
DRE: Was there ever a time when you were less sure as yourself as a comedian?
PO: I'm still unsure of myself now. I go through phases of a good groove then I fall out of it. But I think you have to be unsure of yourself. You have to experience some real doubt or you're not doing anything all that cool or meaningful.
DRE: Is there a certain kind of bit that you know doesn't work for you?
PO: Yeah I guess there are some bits I won't do that even though they're funny. But it might be something I don't care about. So that would be the only thing that would prevent me from doing a bit,"I don't give a fuck about that." I just want to do stuff I really care about or do stuff that could really go wrong that the audience wouldn't like. That's the only thing fun about comedy, getting to say shit you wouldn't say anywhere else.
DRE: Is your comedy very personal?
PO: Yes and no. I don't really talk about my life. I don't care about being a personality but how I feel about my life and the things in it is so evident by what I talk about. At least I try to make it so. I try to talk about shit I care about. I think there is way for someone to get what my personality is without me having to say "here is my personality."
DRE: Bob Fingerman [creator of the independent comic book Minimum Wage] doesn't live too far from me. He showed me the comic book you wrote that he is drawing. How did all that comic book stuff come to you?
PO: I've read comics for years. Then you start running into writers, artists and then you start to get a name. Then you mention to those people that you could do something. There wasn't a specific path to get me into writing comics. When you're nice to enough people eventually it just happens. It's the same with the movies I've been in.
DRE: Is it awesome to see the comics come out?
PO: It's a lot of fucking work but oh boy it's so great to see them on the stands.
DRE: Why is it so much work? You've written a few screenplays.
PO: A screenplay you just write, he walks across the floor and picks up a glass. With comics you have to pick specific moments in time to evoke that. That's a lot more thinking about. It makes you director, cinematographer, writer, producer and a lot of cases actor all at the same time.
DRE: What comics do you read now?
PO: I don't read them as much because I don't read as much superheroes anymore. Superheroes are so much about despair. Wanting someone to come out of the sky and fix things for me. That's what a lot of religion is about too. I want a super powered being to save me. I want a thing outside of myself to fix this thing.
Also with what's been going on lately with the mood of the current administration and the way the country is going superhero comics got really silly sad and desperate to me. I got a lot of that out in the comic I just did [JLA: Welcome to the Working Week]. I read Alias which kind of involves superpowered beings and Stray Bullets.
DRE: I know you're a Matt Wagner fan.
PO: He's fucking fantastic. It's so rare when you get a writer and an artist that is as talented as him. That god and devil stuff he is doing with Grendel right now is so fucking brilliant. I just hope it's not prophetic that would truly suck.
But I would love to do an Annie Wilkes with him. Just strap him to a bed and make him draw all my favorite characters.
DRE: Have you seen any good horror movies this year?
PO: 28 Days Later was pretty fantastic. I haven't seen Cabin Fever yet.
DRE: Have you seen House of 1000 Corpses?
PO: No but Texas Chainsaw Massacre is such a fantastic movie that when you try to be like that, it never works. Texas was such a happy accident and if you watch the rest of Tobe Hooper's films you realize it really was an accident. I've seen nearly every grindhouse exploitation horror movie. But it gets to the point where you realize that a lot of those movies were striving to go forward even though many failed. So movies now that want to do this retro looking back thing and that seems pointless to me. Fucking go forward and try to something new. I hate horror movies that have characters with names like Romero or Carpenter. Very fucking clever, be the source that other people reference.
DRE: Has the sitcom gig changed your life?
PO: No.
DRE: Maybe it's made you noticeable?
PO: Sometimes. I think there are some people who get off on being recognized in public and get addicted to that thrill. Then there are other people like me who have that thrill in the beginning but then we realize it's empty. There are other things I want to do with my life and I've been pursuing them. I don't want it all to be about that I'm on a sitcom. Some people just get on a sitcom then make it their whole fucking life. It's kind of sad and I don't want to be in that group.
DRE: But you get to hang with Lou Ferrigno!
PO: He's a nice guy. Lou is very obsessed with horror movies.
DRE: What would happen if someone offered you a sitcom?
PO: It would depend on if it was something I liked. I love The King of Queens because it's so well written as far as sitcoms. But I don't watch many sitcoms either. People talk about Seinfeld episodes and I'm like "ok". I think it was because when I was coming up as a standup most of my nights were spent out. I wasn't watching TV.
DRE: I think it was Bill Maher who said "Why is every sitcom about an idiot with a hot wife."
PO: Bill Maher hangs out with hot hookers and strippers all the time so what does he know. But you know what, who gives a fuck. I'm not putting you down but I just can't believe that there are people out there who make money watching television. It's sad enough about people who write about watching movies and listening to music but TV, how do you justify it?
DRE: Did you really climb up on the top of an arch to do comedy?
PO: Yeah that was on Comedy Central. I climbed up on the set. It was fun.
DRE: That's the dangerous comedy everyone is talking about.
I read about this screenplay of yours called Puberty, how's that's going?
PO: I just turned in the latest draft. Screenplays take forever to get made.
DRE: How did you come up with that?
PO: I read a news story about a guy who went through puberty late and I thought that would make a good screenplay.
DRE: What comedians would you pay to see?
PO: Dave Attell, Patrice O'Neal, Brian Regan, Louis CK, Zach Galifianakis, Brian Posehn and Todd Glass.
DRE: Are you glad Run Ronnie Run is finally coming out?
PO: I'm happy for those guys but I'm not totally psyched because it should have come out in the theatre. It shouldn't go straight to DVD. It's hard to believe My Boss' Daughter and Legally Blonde 2 are in the theatres but Run Ronnie Run isn't. There's no way to defend those movies being in theatre. Not even from an aesthetic point of view to make money you put that out.
DRE: The sad thing is that David Zucker [co-creator of Airplane and The Naked Gun] directed My Boss' Daughter.
PO: Those guys are douche bags. Good I'm glad he directed it. I hate him. They made a couple of great films and now they are assholes.
DRE: Any good stuff happen on the road lately?
PO: I got booed off stage in Pittsburgh last February. A lot of people were into Bush, the old USA and they didn't like what I had to say. First they started chanting Bush Rocks over and over again. One guy yelled out "Take your faggot ass back to Hollywood." Then I stole a joke from a friend of mine, Blaine Capatch, because I figured they already hated me. I said "Folks it's not like I'm comparing him to Hitler." Then they calmed down a bit so I followed it up with "Hitler was elected." They started screaming FUCK YOU. The club owner had to walk me out while people were throwing shit at me.
DRE: Do comedians hang out together?
PO: Sometimes. In small groups.
DRE: So its not smoking cigars and making each other laugh.
PO: No it's just like any other profession. We just hang out and talk shop.
DRE: Do comedians have big orgies with groupies?
PO: [laughs] No we don't have groupies. If I did have a groupie I certainly wouldn't fuck her because she's a fucking loser because she's a comedian groupie.
DRE: Are there never women who want to sleep with you after a show?
PO: There are but I don't want to sleep with them. The fact that you want to fuck a comedian is pretty sad. God knows what's been inside you.
DRE: Do you have any archenemies?
PO: I think I have an archenemy but he or she has not made themselves evident yet. I'm pretty sure I have one of those really good archenemies like one of those behind the scenes Sidney Korshak motherfuckers.
DRE: What's your favorite pornography?
PO: Anything that involves big breasts but no fake boobs. The worst thing to happen to us since AIDS is fake boobs. As a matter of fact fake boobs are worse then AIDS because it turns men gay and then they go have gay sex and spread AIDS. That's how bad fake boobs are.
DRE: We basically have three kinds of women on the site. Which is your favorite out of the punk, emo and Goth girls?
PO: I like the way the emo girls look but I like the music the punk girls listen to. Emo girls are something else. Little Enid Coleslaw looking ones.
DRE: What did you study in college?
PO: I studied English.
DRE: How's that going for you?
PO: Fucking great. I'm trying to get a job at the English company but it hasn't been working out. English was so fucking lame.
DRE: When people recognize you do they ask you to tell them a joke?
PO: Sometimes. My standard response is that I'm off duty.
DRE: What if they gave you a thousand bucks?
PO: Fuck yeah. That would be a great life. Could you imagine walking around and every few minutes you make another grand just by telling a joke.
DRE: Besides the comedy album what's coming up?
PO: I'm shooting a part in Blade 3 in November. I have another short comic coming out from Wildstorm. David Cross and I will be up at Cobb's [Comedy Club] in San Francisco on January 2nd through the 4th. That's going to be fucking amazing.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
VIEW 8 of 8 COMMENTS
King of queens is my favorite guilty pleasure, i started to watch because of my crush on Kevin James but am now a huge fan of Pattons role on the show.